


Wish

by AlsyWalsy



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-05-18 15:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5934178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlsyWalsy/pseuds/AlsyWalsy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John deals with the revelations of 'In Sheep's Clothing'. Nora helps him out. Minor game spoilers inside.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wish

Smoke drifted around him, up into the night sky above the great green jewel of the Commonwealth. Black eyes gazed at the world below but they didn’t truly see anything. He was too caught up in his own mind to pay attention to the goings on of evening life in the big city. Things were all so calm considering what had just happened. This world was crazy as shit, so crazy that nothing surprised people anymore.  He sighed and took another puff on his cigarette.

“Hey..” Her voice was soft but he still jumped, dropping his lit cigarette into his lap.

“Shit!” He jumped out of the deck chair and swept the hot ash from his lap before it had a chance to burn through his antique trousers. He gave his crotch a quick once over then promptly dropped back into the chair.

“I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“Yeah, I know.” He rummaged about in his pockets for another cigarette, but Nora beat him to it. She held out a packet and lighter.

“Wasn’t sure what you might need.. Figured this was a pretty safe bet. This too.” She lifted a bottle of vodka into his line of vision. She knew him well. “You don’t need anything else?”

Over the past few months of travelling together, Nora had gotten used to his habits. She would often slip a pack of mentats into his pocket after a particularly good looting, or maybe some jet. She would join him on occasion, also, though her chem use was more of a necessity thing than anything else.

But right now he didn’t want to take anything. He doubted anything would help and, to be completely honest, he didn’t even feel like it. There must be something very wrong with him. He almost laughed at himself.

“Nah, I’m good. “ He lit up his cigarette and handed back the lighter, adding the pack to one of his many pockets.

“Are you?”

The Sole Survivor settled herself on the rooftop with her back resting against his deck chair. He knew that she wasn’t looking at him but he could almost feel her gaze on him. She cared about him; she just wanted to make sure he was all right. He would do, and had done, the exact same thing before.

“You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.” She continued after his prolonged silence. “But it might help. I find that it helps. It helped with Nate.. It helped with Shaun. It could help you, John.”

She would never push him, he knew that. But talking was difficult for him. He had spent his whole life running away from everything – this was literally a confrontation. He was good at a lot of things but not confronting his own feelings.

“He’s dead, is there much to talk about?”

“Of course there is.” She cracked open the vodka and took a swig. The bottle was held up above her head and he took it without hesitation.

“Oh yeah?”

“What was his name?” She took the bottle back from him for another drink.

“I don’t fucking know. Letters and numbers, ain’t it?” He shrugged his shoulders and flicked some ash over the edge of the roof.

“His real name, John.” Oh, he knew that tone of voice. That ‘don’t mess me around’ tone of voice that she would have used a lot had she had the chance to be a Mother to Shaun for more than a few months of his life.

“Guy.” He sighed.

“Guy and John McDonough.. What a pair.” She was smiling; he could hear it in her voice.

“We were never a pair. He was a dick from the moment I was born. I never knew him as anything else.”

“He was still your brother. And you must have had a handful of times together before you grew up and went your separate ways.”

He scratched his head and quickly fixed his hat. “Yeah, I guess. I suppose that was definitely him back then. I just wish– ah, I don’t know.”

“What?” She turned to face him, resting her chin on the plastic armrest. “What do you wish?”

He was getting uncomfortable, getting itchy. That kind of itch that had ultimately resulted in his beautiful mug. But this was Nora and she only wanted to help him. He could talk to her.

“I wish I had known when it happened. When they replaced him. Did he always hate on ghouls or was that the Institute talking through him? I mean, he was a shitty guy when he was a kid. But there’s a difference between a shitty kid and what he did to all those innocent people.” He flicked the butt over the edge of the roof and secretly hoped it would land on one of those bastards who had helped chase the innocents from this city. “This whole place is putrid.”

It was late afternoon when they arrived at Diamond City and the plan had been to just sell some things before continuing on to Goodneighbor for the night. Then they had found Danny and it had all gone to shit. The synth impersonating the mayor was dead; she had had no choice but to shoot him. Hancock stood by her decision. He just wished that he didn’t have to stay in this city overnight after that.

“I’m sorry, John.” A soft hand settled over his and he smiled a little. “I know what it’s like - for everything you think you know about a person to be complete lies. To find out that what you were expecting.. what you wanted from life.. was all wrong.”

She understood. It had been easy to hate his brother for all that he had done. To blame him for most of the things that had happened. But now, well, how could he blame him? He didn’t even know if it was him.

“Ah, shit. Here I am talking about my problems and they ain’t nothing compared to yours. Sorry, love.”

“Hey, don’t you apologise to me.” She surprised him with a hefty punch to his arm which left him rubbing the spot to ease the pain. “Just because I’ve been through hell doesn’t lessen your pain, you know. It still matters. You matter.”

“I matter, huh?”

“Nah.” She smirked at him. “I’m just lying to make you feel better.”

He laughed and shifted in his chair so he could face her more. One hand coaxed her up a little so he could kiss her. “Nothing matters beyond you, love. Beyond this thing we have together.”

“I wholeheartedly agree.”


End file.
